Gemotions

He had called her yesterday, excitedly detailing a new promotion. A corner office, a company car, the whole shebang. Tonight, they were supposed to celebrate at that new Italian place she’d been wanting to try. Now, leaning against the cold brick wall of the restaurant, she couldn’t muster the enthusiasm to go inside. The words he’d spoken, the pride in his voice, now echoed in her ears, distorted and alien. She saw the flash of the restaurant lights in the rain and felt something akin to nausea. His entire narrative, the carefully cultivated persona he’d constructed, seemed to shimmer and dissolve like a mirage.